


i'm not deaf to your screams

by potato_post_community



Series: pull me apart, oh dollmaker [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017)
Genre: Angst, Canon Rewrite, Damian Wayne is a child, Gen, Hurt Damian Wayne, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Koriand'r is very concerned, Violence, a murder baby, but a baby, can we agree on this, he's just a baby, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-13 18:17:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21200621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potato_post_community/pseuds/potato_post_community
Summary: Kori knows that there's something wrong with Damian the moment she lays eyes on him. She doesn't know what.Dick tries to figure it out.





	1. shatter

**Author's Note:**

> Was watching the movie and i thought that they could've all been a little more concerned for Damian. 
> 
> So I took matters into my own hands.
> 
> god. this is old. here's my tumblr: [potato-reblob](https://potato-reblob.tumblr.com/)

The cold sting of cuffs around her wrists as she hangs pulls her back from the edge. They rub her wrists raw where they pull at the skin. She’s thankful for her gloves and for her boots, that take away the brunt of the bite.

She can hear Garfield up above her, twisting in his own restraints. “I can’t use my powers,” he gasps, “Raven’s not moving- Guys, _ Raven’s not moving-_” 

“She’ll be fine,” Jaime says, from his spot to Kori’s left. His mask is on, protecting his identity from whoever it is who kidnapped them. He’s hung up in the same way as Kori. From the looks of it, he can’t use his powers either. Not being able to use them sends a shiver down her spine. Her powers are half of what makes her _ Starfire. _They’re what allows her to be a Titan.

Without them, she’s not much. She’s still _ something, _ Kori’s never based herself solely on her powers. One thing that she can say for certain, about this, is that she doesn’t think she can get out herself. Their only hope is going to be Dick. Oh, she _ prays _ that they haven’t found Dick yet. He’s not here, from what she can tell. That means he’s either coming for them, or- and she fights back the tears that arise at this- he’s _ dead. _

Dick doesn’t give easily. 

“Is everyone alright?” she asks. “Any injuries? How did they get you?”

Jaime recounts how the place he was volunteering at. He’d gone in early, put the lasagnas into the oven and sat down to wait. “Then it was like I’d stuck a fork in an outlet or something. They shocked me into unconsciousness- That’s all I really remember before I woke up here. No other injuries. Just-” He shudders. “Just the shock.” 

“That whole podcast thing was _ fake!_” Garfield wails next. “I went there and it was empty- there was even this big button on the table! I _ had _ to press it- Of course I had to press it. So I did. And it shot out tranquilizers at me!” 

Kori tries to stifle her groan.

“Really, Gar?” Jaime utters. “You pressed the big button that said _ no touchies _ and you decided to _ touch it._” 

“It was big!” he tries to defend. “Big and red. You’d press it too!” 

“I don’t think I would.” 

Kori twists to look at her right. Raven’s out, there’s no way she’ll be getting a response from her very soon. Damian, though- She hasn’t seen him for almost a _ week. _ “Robin, repor-” 

Robin- Damian- lies limp in his own set of cuffs. The little skin that his costume shows is dyed red. Blood drips from a set of cuts on his cheek, from his crooked nose, from his split lips and a fourth cut on his forehead. His sleeves and gloves are far from torn, teasing a small glance of raw skin from previous restraints. He’s out, unresponsive. 

“What did you _ do to Robin?!_” she hisses. (Because that is her little brother- that is Dick’s little brother, so that means he is her- he is a part of the team so he is her family- Dick loves him with all of his heart and so will Kori.) 

“What’s wrong with Robin?” Garfield asks. Jaime doesn’t utter a word- Kori recons he can see Damian’s face, recons that he understands just a little more than he wishes he did. “Is he out, too?” 

She breathes in through her nose, out her mouth, like Dick taught her to do. “Robin’s out of commission. When we get out,” _ when, not if, Kori will not be left here, _ “we need to get him out. Top priority.” 

“Him and Raven both,” Garfield says. “Did they get Terra-?” 

As if on cue, (it probably was, if Kori knows villains any good), Slade- _ Slade, the one that makes wake Damian up in the middle of the night, as he heaves because his grandfather’s screams ring too loud in his ear, and Damian says that Ra’s does not _ scream. _ Slade, the one that Dick talks about in the dead of the night, with loud curses on his tongue because he messed with his family one too many times- _walks into the room, Terra at his side. They make their way over to Brother Blood, and Kori has to strain her ears to hear what they say while Garfield cries about betrayal. 

They speak. Slade says that he’s killed Dick and Kori wants to scream, but then Brother Blood says that there is no _ body, _ they need a _ body _ to confirm it. (Dick cannot be dead, Dick is not dead, Dick-) Slade, in turn, steps aside and allows Brother Blood’s men to take Terra and lock her into place above Kori. 

Kori knows betrayal when she sees it, and it is written all over Terra’s face as she begins to shout. 

And then- 

And then everything goes _ white. _ Kori _ screams _ as loud as she can because her bones are turning to liquid and her blood is turning to gas and she is being torn apart from the seams, and oh it _ hurts, _ it hurts so bad. Her teammates scream around her- Jaime tries to grit his teeth and bare it, but it just comes out as a too-low groan. Garfield throws restraint to the wind and screams as if they’ll reach the outside world and draw them help. Raven only yelps- it sends a sliver of relief through Kori because that means she’s alive, and that is one less person to worry about. Terra shouts and shouts and harnesses all her pain into rage- 

And then there’s Damian. 

Sometimes she forgets that Damian is the youngest on the team. Raven’s fifteen, she used to be the youngest before Dick dropped Damian off that fateful morning. He’s thirteen, soon to be fourteen. That, by all means, means that Damian is a _ child. _

She never really expected him to scream like a child. His voice shatters as it reaches up an octave too high. (She swears on her _ life _ that she hears him- when he gasps for air- say _ mother._) Kori’s never seen Damian cry before this moment. He’s shed a tear or two, blinked away before anyone could say anything about it. Now, tears slide down from under his Domino mask and mix with the blood to make it look like he’s crying red. 

He looks young. 

Kori grits her teeth and tries to suppress her screams because someone else has to be strong here and Jaime won’t be the only one that she allows to carry that role. 

She hears something a moment later and it takes all of her concentration to figure out where it came fro-

_ Dick. _

She tries not to sob in relief. 

Their restraints click open a beat later and Garfield shifts to shatter the glass caging him from the outside world. Raven breaks free from her own cage, Jaime catches himself before he can slam into the ground. 

Damian falls limply from his cuffs and curls up as he tries to breathe. 

It’s a split second decision of judgement. Damian, she thinks, is capable. She leaves him behind to draw away the villains. (She misses it when Damian forces himself to his feet. She misses it when Damian throws himself into fighting Slade beside Grayson. She misses it when he gets tossed to the side like a ragdoll and almost does not get back up.) 

Kori loses herself in the rush of battle as she has done so many times. Her focus is only drawn away when Terra screams louder than anything she’s ever heard- something so deep from the heart that Kori can feel it deep in her very soul. Terra tears down the entire place. Kori yells at everyone to get out. 

They have to leave Terra behind. (Garfield screams for her.)

The moment they get outside, Kori slaps a hand over her mouth and doubles over. It’s a lot to process and handle, now that the adrenaline is fading to grey. She half expects Dick to stoop down to her, to pull her up with a concerned smile on his face and that beloved twinkle in his eyes. It’s not him that grabs her shoulder, it’s Raven with gentle words and light touches. 

Kori composes herself and stands, giving Raven a smile when she asks if she’s okay. “Status report,” she forces out. 

“A few bruises, nothing terrible,” Raven repeats. 

Garfield forces the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Some cuts,” he gasps. “Just a few cuts.” 

Jaime wraps an arm around Garfield’s shoulders and pulls him close as his mask fades back. “A little shaken,” he says. “I think we’re all just a little shaken. Can we- We should get back to the Tower. Order a pizza. Take a break. We’re all beat.” 

“That sounds perfect,” Kori replies. She glances over at Dick- Dick who’s holding onto Damian so tight that she doesn’t think he’ll ever manage to let him go. Dick who’s blinking back tears as Damian sobs into his shoulder like a little boy- a little boy that she reckons he never really got to be. “Dick,” she says, ever so carefully. “Dick, should we take him home? Or-?” 

“I’m taking him to the Batcave,” Dick says. “I- We need to- I have to bring him back to the Batcave, Kori, we-”

She reaches out and grabs onto his upper arm. “Do what you need to do, Dick. Just- You-” Kori heaves out a sigh. “Bring him home. We’re worried about him too.” 

Dick gives her a chaste kiss on the cheek. 

Then they’re gone. 

(Kori prays that they’ll be okay.)


	2. mend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian gets a hug. Lots of hugs. 
> 
> They're getting close to being 'okay'.

Bruce isn’t at the manor.

Dick’s not sure if it’s a relief. Perhaps for Damian, it is. It’s enough to soothe him from not trying to take off at the first inconvenience. The first few days back home, Damian spends rubbing at his wrists. Dick spends them fretting, spends them calling Kori and the other Titans, spends them trying to get Damian to open up to him about what happened. 

“Where were you?” he asks, and Damian doesn’t say a word. 

“How did they get you? I’m sure you didn’t go down without a fight,” he says, and Damian presses his lips into a thin line and lets his hands curl up around his chest. 

“Who hurt you like this?” he questions, and Damian reaches for his hand with shaking shoulders. 

They sit there in silence, hand in hand. The sky goes dark. Dick stops asking questions and trying to break through. He waits for Damian to open up to him himself. It takes a week for anything like that to happen. When it does, Dick doesn’t think that Damian means to let it out. 

It’s the dead of the night. Dick hears a scream from the room beside him and he takes off running. (It’s too young and it’s too high and it cracks in too many places.) Damian’s room is dark and eerie and not at all welcoming. He throws open the door just in time to see Damian shoot up, eyes wide and chest heaving. 

“Dami,” he utters, pausing just a step before Damian’s bed. “Dami, you’re okay. Can I come closer?” 

“I- I thought- I thought I- I-” Then, in a whine, “_Grayson._” 

(There’s a small part of Dick’s brain that whispers _ this is not how Damian acts, something is terribly wrong._) “Shh, shh, Dami, I’m here,” Dick mutters. Gently, he sits down on the bed and reaches over for Damian’s hand. When he doesn’t flinch away, Dick slowly pulls him onto his lap. “You’re okay, Dami.” 

“_Grayson- _ I’m sorry- I- _ Grayson-_” 

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Dami.” 

“I didn’t get _ away,_” he sobs. “I couldn’t- I let him ta-ake me, and- Terra _ betrayed _me- I was trying to help her, I really was trying-” 

His arms tighten around Damian, pressing the side of his head into his chest. “If you can, do you think you can tell me it from start to finish, Dami? If you can’t, that’s okay. You don’t have to if you don’t think you can, you hear me?” 

Damian sniffs and folds his hands. “La-ast week, I followed Terra out- I wanted to _ help her-_” (_I know, _ Dick utters, _ I know you did, Dami._) “But then Slade was there- him and Terra took me down- I was _ weak,_” he says bitterly. “I was weak- I- I let- I let them take me down. He- He took me with him and they locked me up-” (_For an entire week? _ he asks. _ They had you for a week, and I didn’t _know?) “He kept sending you texts, trying to pretend like I was texting you to tell you to leave me alone.

“He was so _mad _at me- I ruined his life because I was born- He-” (_He hurt you?_ _He _tortured_ you?_) “When Terra came into my room, I tried my best to tell her that he didn’t _care,_ that he was _using her._ If I could’ve gotten _through to her,_ I could’ve prevented _everything._ All of it.” (_Don’t say that, you don’t know that._) “I- And then they moved me to where you found me- With all of you. I just- It’s- _stupid._” 

“No, no. You’re perfectly fine, Dami, you did so well,” Dick says, and for some reason his voice sounds fake. He pulls Damian’s head up so he can look him in the eyes. “I’m so proud of you, you know that, right?”

Damian doesn’t answer.

They spend the rest of the night curled up with each other. 

(Dick spends it trying to breathe right.) 

Come the morning, Bruce still isn’t there. Damian and Dick pack up their bags. They have breakfast with Alfred, and drive back down to the tower come the afternoon. Throughout the drive, Damian stays quiet. Dick keeps his thoughts down to give his younger brother time to breathe. He just hopes that it’s enough time. He hopes that Damian will blend back in to life in the tower without any problems.

It’s late by the time they get to the tower. In the passenger seat, Damian snoozes. It's a fitful sleep. Not restless or light, which Dick is thankful for. It lets Dick scoop up Damian into his arms and carry him into the tower. His little brother shifts in his arms and wails. Dick only forces open the door and strides to the elevator. 

The elevator’s music has been silenced. 

He makes his way to Damian’s room, thinking that he could’ve just gone to his apartment with Kori. There’s no spare room, though, and like hell he’d make Damian sleep on the couch just yet. He lays Damian down and settles down beside him, listening to him breathe ever so gently. 

The next day comes. He has to force Damian to leave the room. 

They go down to the kitchen to find Garfield, staring despondently at his bowl of cereal. Dick pushes Damian towards the cabinets, hissing out about him needing to eat. He sits beside Gar, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. 

“How are you holding up, Gar?” 

“Man,” he says, voice hoarse, “she’s all I can _ think about. _ It’s- This _ sucks._” 

"Loss is- Loss is really hard," Dick says, eloquently. "And you're right. It _ sucks. _ Like, bad."

"We knew her for an entire _ year. _ And- And-" Garfield lets out a frustrated sigh, dropping his head down onto the table. Dick has to push his cereal out of the way, so he doesn't lay his head in it. "It's hard to explain. It just sucks. That’s like the only word I can think of that can describe this.” 

“It’s a valid thing, Gar.” The way that Garfield’s shoulders tense lets Dick know that he should change the topic. “Hey, what about that podcast you have? Didn’t they send you a real invite?” 

Garfield instantly brightens. “They did! It’s next weeke- What’s he doing?” 

“What’s who doing- _ Damian!_” The moment that Garfield points out Damian, Damian freezes from his spot beside the garbage can. He’s holding a bowl, barely filled with some kind of nutritious cereal. There’s hardly a drop of milk in it. The tips of Damian’s ears go red, his cheeks soon following suit. “Damian, what are you _ doing?_” 

His face goes hard. “Eating,” he says, as if he hadn’t just been dumping it out. 

“More like wasting food,” Garfield snarks. Damian _ flinches, _ holding the bowl a little tighter to his chest. “You’re just throwing it all away, man.” 

“What did I say, Dami? You’ve gotta eat something.” 

“In the _ League,_” Damian spits, “we had long fasts- a good lot of the time they were for torture training. Missing a single meal is hardly a problem, Grayson.” Beside Dick, Garfield goes a little pale, mumbling out a, _ torture training? _ “Of course, Logan. I had to be trained for absolutely everything- Mother and Grandfather made many enemies during their lives.” 

The, _ like Slade Wilson, _ part of that sentence isn’t vocalized. Dick hears it as clear as day. Despite Talia _ preparing _ him for it, Damian was experiencing the aftermath of it. He wasn’t dealing with it properly. He _ wouldn’t _ deal with it properly- he was _ thirteen _ years old. Despite the fact that he’s already saved the world- and _ died_\- he couldn’t be expected to live as if being kidnapped had little effect on him. 

Without thinking, Dick stands up and moves towards Damian. He gently pries the bowl from Damian’s hands and sets it aside, before wrapping his arms around his younger brother. Damian surprises him by sniffing- not in disgust, but the kind when you’re trying to hold back tears. 

“I’m sorry, baby bat,” Dick whispers. 

Damian sobs without making a sound. “I just don’t _ get it,_” he says. “Why are you acting like it’s a big thing? It’s-” 

If Damian were still with Talia, she’d call him weak. If Damian were still with Talia, he’d have to suppress it and pretend like everything is okay. Hell, if Damian were still with _ Bruce, _ he’d have to hide it all away. It’s why Dick is so utterly _ happy _ that instead of being with his parents, Damian is here with _ him. _ It’s why some small part of his mind- the one that exists from when it was just him and Damian versus the world- tells him that Damian is _ his. _ Damian is _ his _ Robin. By all rights, Damian is his _ son. _ (Bruce hadn’t even been _ home._) 

He hears Garfield softly get up and step away. 

That’s fine. Later, Damian will need the whole team behind him. Right now, Dick’s content enough being the only one his little brother (son) needs.

"I love you, Dami. I really care about you." 

"I-" 

"It's okay if you can't say it yet." 

Damian sobs again. "I care about you, Grayson, I really do." 

It's more than enough to hear. 

(Later, Garfield will whisper to Damian, "_Baby bat, _huh?" Damian will punch him, and they'll fall into an easy spar. 

Dick can't help but feel like this is a good enough home for him. Like _Dick_ is a good enough home. 

Yeah. It's enough.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEET SKEET MY DUDES 
> 
> THAT'S RIGH T IT'S A L RE A DY OUT


End file.
